Times Finds Ft. Greene "Serene," Misses Housing Projects

The Times did a "Living In" feature on Fort Greene yesterday, portraying it as a "busy, blooming hybrid whose slate-sidewalk streets somehow retain their serenity" despite waves of gentrification -- though a starting rent of $1,600 for a 1BR will make any neighborhood serene. (We are interested to learn from the article that Lee Solomon, a former Spike Lee casting assistant, is now a top Fort Greene realtor.)

No Land Grab complains that the Times reports the neighborhood bordered by "the Atlantic Yards area": "'Atlantic Yards area' seems to have replaced 'Prospect Heights' as one of the nearby neighborhoods. Atlantic Yards is not a place -- it is a proposed mixed-use development located in Prospect Heights.'" They also inform us that the local bar Freddy's, featured in a separate Times story, is threatened with eviction by the Atlantic Yards project. Atlantic Yards Report notices that the article fails to mention the neighborhood's "public housing" (like the Whitman and Ingersoll Houses) and "subsidized Mitchell-Lama buildings. Those buildings do not show up in the New York Times classifieds. They likely are not the desired locations of typical Times readers. But they are part of 'Living In' Fort Greene." Photo (cc) activefree.